Tale of Twin Potters
by Fectless Hart
Summary: Harry James Potter is the Boy-Who-Lived. Though the Wizarding world doesn't know it, his younger twin, Evan Septimus, is a boy who Remembers. Remembers his past life- or bits of it, that is. And from what he once read, he knows two things: he will keep his brother safe, and he cannot trust adults to help. If only he could remember everything. Twin AU rewrite with less death. Maybe.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One**_

* * *

Shortly before sunrise on the morning of September 1, Harry shook his younger brother awake from within the crowded confines of a boot cupboard.

As these boys were the Potter twins of Privet Drive, waking before sunrise in a small, dark closet beneath the stairs was their version of normal. In fact, as they were about to leave the Dursleys and their "charity" behind, this morning was actually much better than normal.

"Do you think it's safe to make a light?" asked Harry, as he reached for his glasses.

In response, he heard a whispered, "Lumos!" and a pair of hazel eyes stared into his green ones. _"If we're quick about it, we should be fine."_ Evan was grinning as he twinspake, though his face twitched when he moved to sit up. The older twin felt a zing of excitement as they held eye contect but also a warm, prickling sensation across his upper back.

Harry's own grin disappeared upon his noticing this. His green eyes narrowed. " _Is your back still hurting?"_

Evan tore his eyes away and reached for a strangely wooden matchbox from their shelf. "Not really," he said aloud.

Harry ran a hand through his short black curls. _I wish he would stop-_

"It's much better than yesterday, Harry. Honest."

"If you say so. Want me to braid your hair?"

Evan ran his fingers through the long strands of red. "Hnnn, no. No, I think I want to mess with several someones today. I'll just tie it back."

Harry hummed in reply, reaching onto their shelf to grab a strip of black fabric and a wooden matchbox of his own.

The twins practically lived in the too small boot cupboard (which hardly fit one boy, let alone both!), let out only for school, chores and bathroom breaks. Despite this, they were given only a cot, a threadbare blanket, and a singular shelf while the Dursleys used the rest of the closet to store shoes and cleaning supplies. Upon that shelf, the twins had some broken toy soldiers (formerly Dudley's), a brown backpack that was more duct tape than cloth, and a few articles of clothing. The clothes themselves were all hand-me-downs from Dudley Dursley, and all of them had "shrunken in the wash," save for a once-brown-and-orange sweater that had somehow changed color and gotten less ugly.

Of course, the clothing hadn't really shrunken in the wash. As Evan was responsible for all of the laundry in the household, he took the opportunity to change the size and colors (though Harry helped, of course) of the hand-me-downs with magic, otherwise they would have been much too big. He had been beaten by Petunia Dursley once she caught on. _But_ , the redhead thought as he pulled on the big, now-black-and-green sweater that had cued her in, _it was worth it_. Looking less like vagrants had dissolved some of the rumors surrounding the twins.

Today, the two brothers were accompanying the Dursley family to London, where they would then be left at King's Cross station. Vernon would have left them behind, and Petunia had argued that they should, but he was wary of doing so.

In July, Petunia had caught Evan talking to an owl while weeding the garden. Neither twin actually knew how many lashes he'd gotten from Vernon's belt for that, only that the younger brother was locked away in the cupboard for only a scant few hours before it started happening.

It being the letters, of course.

A letter addressed to each boy, stating their exact address (Cupboard Under the Stairs, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey) in green ink. And the number had quadrupled every day, ending up inside regardless of Vernon's attempts to shut them out. The whole thing had culminated in a rather large man, named Hagrid, breaking down the door of the hut Vernon had secreted them away to in the wee hours of July 31. He had wished the twins a happy birthday, explained they were wizards (though they'd already known that), and given them sausages and cake. Then he'd slept and the next day, he'd taken them shopping for school supplies.

He'd also given Dudley a pig's tail, which was the only reason why Mr. Dursley was actually agreeing to drop them off at the train station. The station was near the hospital that had agreed to remove the tail, after half a dozen had thought it a hoax. The overweight man did not want to know what would happen should the wizard school discover that he did not give the twins a ride.

After a bit of careful re-positioning so as to not hinder each other, twins finished dressing. Then they stuffed a few changes of clothes into the rucksack, dismissed the floating orb of light, and hid the matchboxes in their respective pockets.

Just then, the footsteps of Vernon Dursley could be heard upstairs and as he stomped down to the ground floor, dust motes and small spiders were shaken loose from their hiding places and fell upon the twins. Harry brushed his off. When Evan didn't so the same he shot him a questioning look. In return he got an aborted shrugging motion and a mixture of amusement and pain through their twinspeak.

 _Must be part of his messing with someones,_ the brunet figured, frown deepening as he realized how bad Evan's back was. He finger-combed his hair back over the peculiar, lightning bolt-shaped scar above his right eye.

A meaty fist pounded on the door and the latch was unlocked.

A while later, the entire household was outside and Vernon was trying to convince Dudley and Petunia to sit in the car.

"I'll not go anywhere with those freaks," Petunia hissed. She jutted out her chin in a way that emphasized her already long neck. Dudley trembled from his place next to her.

"Think of it this way, love-"

Evan and Harry just kept quiet in the back of the silver vehicle. Evan was directly behind the front passenger seat, head down and scrunched up as far as he could be with his sore back. Harry sat beside him, hiding him from view as much as he possibly could- which wasn't much, considering how scrawny both twins were.

When the Dursleys finally entered the vehicle, both Potters twitched and Evan sucked in a deep breath. But Dudley plastered himself to the door on his side and Petunia ignored them. In fact, the car was silent for nearly the entire time it took to drive into London, save for a short series of questions from Mr. Dursley.

"Funny way to get to wizards' school, the train." His eyes met Harry's in the rear view mirror, flicked over to Evan's head and then back to the road. "Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"

No one said anything.

"Where is this school anyway?"

Harry opened his mouth to say he wasn't sure, but a tug on his sleeve stopped him. He met Evan's eyes and heard, _"Scotland, probably,"_ a pause as Evan blinked sleepily at him and then, _"Platform nine and three-fourths."_

"Scotland, I think," the older twin says, knowing that the Dursleys wouldn't have heard his brother. He thought back to the tickets Hagrid had handed him. "The train leaves at eleven o'clock from platform nine and three-quarters."

Petunia and Dudley turned to stare at them.

"Platform what?" Vernon asked.

"Nine and three-quarters."

"Don't talk rubbish," the man said. But when Harry glanced up at the mirror, he saw Vernon smile. "There's no such platform. You'll see. Just you wait."

* * *

They reach the station at half ten. The Dursleys accompany them to the platform. Neither twin mistook this for kindness. Their skepticism was proven correct after a few minutes.

"Well, there you are, boys. Platform nine- platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"

He was right: there were two big plastic signs reading nine and ten. And between them was absolutely nothing, other than the pillar that held the signs up.

"Have a good term," the big lug of a man said. And all three of them left, laughing.

Harry started to walk towards a passing guard to ask where to go, but Evan pulled his sleeve. "This way." And then he walked through the wall with the platform labels.

Harry goggled. "What- Evan!" Readjusting his grip on the backpack and making sure no one was looking, he stepped forward, eyes closed, convinced he was in for a concussion.

 _I... haven't crashed?_ He opened his eyes.

A scarlet steam engine was waiting before him. A sign above him read Hogwarts Express and the time of departure; behind him was a wrought-iron archway with the platform name- and someone was about to crash into-

A hand grabbed his elbow and yanked him out of the way.

"Sorry," Evan called.

The pink-faced girl and her parents didn't seem to notice, simply continuing on their way.

Harry whirled around to face his younger brother. "Evan!" he hissed. _"Don't do that!"_

" _Do what?"_

" _You disappeared on me!"_

The other boy grinned, unrepentantly. "It's fine, isn't it? No one's hurt and we're about to ride a train to magic school! Let's go find a compartment, yeah?" Evan spoke aloud, startling Harry, who hadn't realized they were twinspeaking.

But the brunet had made the mistake of making eye contact with the redhead. Feeling Evan's excitement prompted his to return, so he just shook his head and chuckled. "Alright."

Bypassing families, several of which were in the midst of tearful farewells, and stepping around a multitude of cats, the twins boarded the train and took a seat in an empty booth near the front of the train.

"Alright!" Evan clapped his hands and got up to shut the door. "Let's split up the stuff from our bag and put them in our trunks, yeah?"

Harry shrugged and dug his matchbox out from his pocket. He made a gesture with his right arm and a wand appeared in his hand. "Just tap it and it'll grow to full size, he said?"

"Mm-hmm." Evan had already put his apparently-not-really-a-matchbox down on the cushy, blue-and-green seat and was separating the clothing from the backpack, placing the previously agreed upon articles in his trunk. Suddenly he stopped. "I've just had a brill idea!" He whirled around, half-folded plaid shirt in hand. "Umbrellas!"

Harry paused from where he was tucking away some underwear and socks. Despite having lived in each others pockets their whole lives, there were times when he couldn't understand what his twin was thinking. "Umbrellas? Evan, what-"

A knock on the compartment door halted the brainstorming.

Evan slid the door open. "Yes?"

There stood a frizzy-haired girl, already wearing the Hogwarts uniform, with slightly over-large front teeth. "Have either of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one."

Harry watched as Evan's face went blank, as it often did when he was angry or in pain. "Is it pink?" the redhead asked. He stared at the girl unblinkingly, which seemed to unsettle her a bit.

"Pink? Evan, really!" Harry said before the girl could answer. _Honestly, he's so weird sometimes._ "Why would his toad be pink?"

"It could be." Something about the way he said this unnerved Harry, though he couldn't recall where he'd heard that particular tone before, and it seemed to do the same to the girl.

Harry gently, slowly pulled his brother away. "Sorry, about him- he really hates toads, has for years. No clue why."

"O-oh. Well, Trevor could be, I suppose, but I read through most of the course books and none of them mentioned pink toads, and neither did Neville, though he might not have mentioned it if most Wizarding toads are pink. That would be strange, wouldn't it? Surely we would have heard about pink toads in the Muggle world if they were common, though they might be secret because they're magical, I guess."

"What?" Harry frowned, thrown aback by the sudden burst of exposition. Evan, on the other hand seemed to relax the longer she spoke, eyelids sagging down halfway. Although that might have been because the train started moving. Moving vehicles always did make him sleepy.

"Alright," the redhead nodded, "let's go then."

This seemed to surprise the girl again. "Go? Go where?"

Evan blinked, finally. "Why, to see the prefects, of course. We've only just left the station, so we can probably stop by their compartment and ask them to summon-" he paused, face contorting, "- _it_ before they start patrolling."

"Oh! That makes sense. I should have thought of that! It's much easier than asking everyone. Did you know, I came across some extremely rude boys-"

"Um." Harry interrupted, and was surprised when she actually stopped. His green eyes blinked a few times when Evan just looked over with a tilted head and raised brows.

 _Oh, this is weird_. He'd always had at least most of Evan's attention before. This was beginning to remind him of fifth form, when Evan had been acting suspicious. Evan's attention had been diverted then, and all he'd gotten from him was a "It's a secret" before the school librarian was arrested, sacked and never seen again.

A bit confused, Harry pointed at the twins' stuff. "Shouldn't someone stay with our things?"

"Ah. Probab-"

"You can just spell the door locked."

Both twins turned to the girl and blinked at the same time. "That-" Harry said slowly.

"-Makes sense," Evan finished. The three did so and walked towards the caboose. Just before they reached the door behind which the prefects were seated (they were distinguished from the other upper year students by the badges with golden 'P's on their robes), he suddenly realized something. "Sorry, we never told you our names, did we? I'm Evan."

"Harry." Speaking of him, Harry was still rather confused by all of this. He and his brother never really had friends, or even friendly acquiantances back in Little Whinging, never mind a girl deigning to speak with them, so walking this one was... an experience to say the least. _Are all girls like this?_

"Oh, sorry, that's terribly rude of me. I'm Hermione. Hermione Granger, that is."

"Nice to meet you," the boys chorused.

Then Evan reached up to knock on the door.

An older student, who also had red hair, opened it, frowning at the interruption. "Yes, what is it?"

"We're ever so sorry to interupt," Hermione began, "but Neville's lost his toad, and I've already searched most of the train. Evan," she gestured to him, "suggested we ask a prefect to summon him."

The older boy seemed to perk up at the idea of younger students asking him for help. "Yes, that makes sense. Headed for Ravenclaw, are you? Accio Neville's toad."

"Hmm, no, I was hoping for Hufflepuff." Evan answered. This seemed a surprise to both Hermione and the prefect. Harry shrugged. He and Evan had discussed their Sortings earlier, and the only house they weren't okay with was Slytherin, as neither particularly felt like having to watch their backs all the time; Hogwarts wasn't supposed to be another 4 Privet Drive, regardless of the potential dangers that Evan had mentioned. Personally, he thought it might be nice to be in Gryffindor, though he had mixed feelings about being split up from his twin.

Before anyone could say anything, however, a murky brown and green toad flew towards the four of them.

Harry grabbed it, mostly by instinct, before it could splat against the prefect.

The prefect seemed a bit surprised by this. "Right, well you've got your toad, Neville, hold onto him more firmly this time. Good luck on your Sorting, you three." Before Harry could explain that Neville wasn't with them, the older boy had already gone back into his compartment and shut the door.

The twins blinked at each other, and then at Hermione. "Well, I'd better get Trevor back to Neville, he'll be ever so relieved to see him; he was a gift from Neville's uncle, you see. I'll just head back to our compartment, we had agreed to meet up there aswe're sitting together. Do you want to join us?"

Hermione was in the habit of speaking really fast, so it took a moment for them to parse all of that. Then they exchanged a glance.

" _Do you want to?"_

" _Well, she seems nice, and having friends for the next few years would probably be pleasant. I'll mostly be asleep though, so your choice."_

They blinked. "Sure," Harry said. It would be nice to have friends besides Evan, especially if they ended up Sorted to different houses. "Just let us grab our trunks."

They unlocked the door and shoved the appropriate clothing into their respective trunks- after taking a moment to change (Hermione standing watch in front of the door so they could have some privacy), which shrank back to matchbox size at a tap of their wands (Hermione was delighted by this, and then a bit put out once she realized that, no, the twins were not doing magic) and then put Trevor the toad in the mostly duct tape backpack. Hermione led them to where she was sitting, chatting all the while.

They arrived to find a slightly chubby, round-faced boy worrying away at his uniform. "Uncle Algie's going to kill me," they heard him mutter as he paced in the narrow space. "No, Gran will kill me, and then Uncle Algie will exorcise my ghost!"

"Neville?" The boy didn't seem to hear Hermione. "Neville! Calm down, we found him!"

"You did! Oh, thank you-" He suddenly noticed the twins standing just behind her. "O-oh. Hello. I'm Neville Longbottom. Who are you two?"

Hermione said, just as Harry moved to speak, "Oh, they helped me find your toad, Neville, asked me if I'd tried asking a prefect to summon him, it was so silly that we hadn't checked with them first, you know. He's Harry, and this is Evan... Sorry, I don't recall your last name?"

Harry grimaced at his brother, much to the curiosity of Neville and Hermione, but Evan only shrugged, blinking drowsily and swaying in time with the train's rocking. "Potter."

"Oh!" Both Hermione and Neville seemed surprized, and Neville even seemed more nervous, despite his holding the bag that the twins had put his familiar in. "Are you really? I've read about you, Harry, but none of the books ever mentioned you had a brother..." she trailed off, frowning.

Harry's eyes widened in alarm, but after a moment, he slumped and then sat down on the seat with a dark expression. Evan, on the other hand, raised his brows. As he sat, the redhead said, "That's not surprising, as no one's bothered to interview us." Then he yawned, resting his head against the window.

"What?! You mean to tell me-"

 _She seems_ so _outraged by that,_ Evan thought. _How cute_. The thought pulled a smile to his face. Just before he drifted off, he saw Neville sit down and heard, "Don't mind Evan, train rides make him sleepy. Honestly, I'm amazed he lasted so long."

"-sources! How are we supposed to learn-!"

 _This will be fun_.

He did feel as if he was forgetting something though.

 _'S probably not important._

* * *

On the other end of the train, a Weasley and a Malfoy got into a fight, only to be caught by a prefect when Crabbe, Goyle and two more Weasleys got involved. None of them had a chance to see if the rumor about Harry Potter being on the train was true, as the prefect had taken points from all of their houses (thirty from Gryffindor and thrity from Slytherin; despite the first years' lack of a proper Sorting, as everyone knew that Weasleys went to Gryffindor and Malfoys, Crabbes and Goyles to Slytherin) and spent the remainder of the journey lecturing them. Their houses would start the year with negative points. Such a thing had not occurred in nearly two decades, since the year when the students known as the Marauders were in their fourth year.

* * *

Word Count: 3,480

Posted: 2/12/2018


	2. Chapter 2

**_Chapter Two_**

* * *

"..van! Evan!"

He made a sound in the back of his throat and frowned, but he didn't see anyone who cold possibly be calling him. No one was there, besides himself, and the last he checked, books didn't talk unless they were online or on cassettes/CDs. He shrugged and turned back to the anatomy text book.

"..re. Lemme just-"

His eyelids were pried open and a bright light was shined into them.

"Aarrrgh!" His hands clapped over his hazel eyes and he winced when the suddenness of the action made the pain in his back flare up again. _Need to change the bandages_ , he thought as he rubbed at his- _Wait... I can't rub my face while in the cupboard without-_

He opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar room, with green and blue seats, a glass door, and- "Harry!" His twin was wearing a black robe and a pointed cap, and next to him were two vaguely familiar children in identical clothing. His eyes narrowed. "Where...?"

Harry sighed, green orbs rolling from behind wire-frame glasses. "Hogwarts Express, Evan. Remember?"

"Ah. Yes. That." He blinked a few times. Oh. _Hermione and... Neville!_ he recalled. It was dark outside. "We're here, then?"

"We're almost there, Evan, so we decided to wake you. After all, you don't want to get Sorted while half-asleep! I heard that the Sorting's actually a test that you do in the Great Hall, before they start the Welcome Feast, and-"

Evan looked over to his twin to see Harry trying to hide a smile. _Keeping his face schooled never was one of his strong suits._

 _"Oi, I can hear you, you know!"_

 _"Oh, really?"_ he twinspake in a light tone that betrayed his insincerity. _"Oops."_

"A test!" Neville's grip on his familiar tightened, and Trevor the Toad let out a croak. "But- but I don't know any magic! I'm almost a squib! I'm going to fail. I knew this was too good to be true."

Evan could feel his face shift as he looked at the toad, but he drew his gaze to the panicking boy, so as to not alarm Neville further. "Relax," he said, and heard an echo. A quick glance to the right informed him that he and Harry were, as they were prone to do, speaking at the same time. Together, they continued, "the Sorting 's not really a test."

Hermione gasped. "You must be joking! _Everyone_ I asked said it was! I've spent _all summer_ studying for it!"

"It's really not a test." Evan could feel the train slow to a stop and reached for his trunk. He shrank it and shoved it in his pockets.

"You see," Harry said, "Evan found out that people prank first years by making up outrageous stories. We heard one about fighting a troll, even."

Evan's voice was a bit muffled as he retied his neck tie into a bow, but he picked up where his twin left off. "The school really just has this hat, the Sorting Hat, that looks at how you think and puts you into houses based on that."

"Together, the twins finished, "So don't worry."

Harry had Evan straighten his tie for him while Hermione and Neville processed this information. But while Hermione seemed to relax minutely, murmuring something about study guides and summer homework, Neville seemed even more dejected. "What's wrong Neville?"

The other boy just shook his head. After a moment, he opened his mouth to answer-

A prefect- not the redheaded one from earlier, opened the compartment door and rushed them outside, telling them to leave their luggage.

"Never mind," Neville muttered. Harry frowned.

Hermione turned to ask what Harry and Neville were talking about but became quite distracted. "Evan, what did you do to your tie?"

"I tied it."

"Then why is it..." The two began to bicker, though Evan was faintly smiling.

Harry's frown deepened at this, though he couldn't say why. "Should we do something about them?" he wondered aloud. Neville just shrugged and grabbed Trevor, hands faintly trembling.

The four preteens made their way off the train, Evan and Hermione still arguing about his uniform.

"-still, you should have-"

"Hermione, today is only the Welcoming Feast. I won't be penalized for not wearing the entire thing uniform correctly. Beyond that, there are no rules stating th-" From the corner of his eye, the redhead saw something move and his voice trailed off. He turned.

He had recalled that the carriages for the older students weren't horseless, of course. It had been a plot point during one of the latter books. Evan just hadn't quite remembered how disturbing the usually invisible horses were when one could actually see them. As he watched, one of them turned to face him, eyeless sockets meeting his gaze. It tossed its bony neck and neighed. He shivered, but couldn't look away.

"-an? Evan!"

Someone shook him. "Hm?"

He turned his head to meet the worried faces of his brother and their companions- though Hermione looked more upset than anything. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." Evan's back twinged a bit when someone bumped into him from behind, but he ignored it and asked, "Do you see them too?"

"See what?"

"The horses."

And _now_ Hermione looked worried. "Evan," she said softly (or as softly as one can on a crowded train platform), "the carriages are horseless. Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. Anyway," he started walking again and they moved to keep up with him, "we should probably find the other-"

"Firs' years!" Hagrid's voice cut through the crowd. He was walking towards the crowd carrying a lantern and wearing that many-pocketed coat of his."Firs' years, this way! C'm on now, firs' years don' be shy! Follow me!"

Evan smiled brightly at the timing. (Hermione was beginning to wonder if the boy was insane. Harry knew his brother was only vaguely sane, and was actually also amused by Hagrid's timing. Neville was too worried to notice.)

"No more'n four t' a boat!" The four went over to the edge of the lake, the twins waving at Hagrid as they settled into a boat. The half-giant waved back, grinning.

"E'ryone in?" Hagrid got into the last boat, managing to fill it up by himself. "Right then. Forward!"

All of the boats began to glide across the dark, glassy surface of the lake. All of the new students were staring at the giant castle, taking in the beauty of it. Even Evan, though he couldn't help thinking, _And now, it begins._

Hagrid called for everyone to duck as they neared a vine-covered opening in the cliffside the castle was built on, but he was the only one that needed to. The students were directed to leave their boats once they were inside what seemed to be an underground harbor (the twins helped Hermione and Neville out. "Wait," the chubby boy said. "I 've lost Trevor again!" None of the four could see the toad; it was too dark. Personally, Evan was glad it was gone, but he didn't voice this.) and follow Hagrid through a dark tunnel.

"At last, they walked up a series of stone staircases, coming to a stop before a woman in deep green robes and a black hat with salt-and-pepper hair. Hermione, from where she stood on Harry's left, stopped talking halfway through asking the dark-haired boy if he knew, exactly, the way of thinking that each House had.

"'Ere are th' firs' years, Proffessor McGonagall."

""Thank you, Hagrid," said the woman, apparently a professor, nodding, "I will take them from here."

"She clapped her hands together and the murmuring of the students died down. "Welcome to Hogwarts! In a few moments, you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you take your seats, you will need to be sorted into your Houses."

"The murmuring started up again and Evan finally noticed that Neville seemed even more nervous than he had been on the train. He nudged him and Neville managed a shaky smile that looked more like a grimace.

The professor moved her gaze over the crowd and the students quieted again as her eyes moved over them. "They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin." Her expression flattened a bit at the last one. "While you are here, they will be your family. Triumphs will earn points, rule-breaking will lose them. At the end of the year the House with the most-"

Her explanation was interrupted by a croaking sound. Neville leapt forward to snatch up his toad with a cry of, "Trevor!" before Evan could stop him.

Only when everything was completely quiet did Neville seem to realize how rude that was. "Sorry!" He hurried back to Evan's side.

Professor McGonagall continued her speech and vanished into the Hall, but Evan ignored her and instead pulled the ribbon from his hair. "Here," he whispered, and tied Trevor to Neville. "Should be harder to lose this way."

"Is it true then, what they're saying on the train?" The voice cut above the other students' talking.

 _Uh-oh._

"Has Harry Potter come to Hogwarts?"

Evan's head snapped up and he moved to stand at Harry's right side. Neville hesitated for a moment and then followed.

Harry, upon hearing his name, had turned to look for the origin of the voice. It belonged to the blond boy who was leaning against one of the banisters, a smug smile pasted on his face. He ignored the whispers of "Harry Potter!" that had broken out among the wizard-raised students and the questions of "Harry Potter?" from the muggleborns. Instead, the boy introduced his companions as "Crabbe and Goyle," and made his way to the front. (At the back of the corwd, another boy- who looked like the prefect that had summoned Neville's toad, down to the red hair and neatly-patched robes- tried to make his way forward too, only to be stopped when everyone around him hissed at him to stop pushing.)

"And I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Harry looked mildly alarmed, though few would be able to tell. His alarmed face was a slight widening of his eyes and a downwards turn of his mouth.

Evan rolled his eyes. "Honestly?" _Nervous because of this guy?_

Malfoy' head whipped around. Neville flinched at the look in his eye, but stayed at Evan's side. "Think my name's funny, do you?" Evan just raised an eyebrow. The blond sneered. "No need to ask yours. Red hair, messy robes, you must be a Weasley. Father said one of them was a girl, though you really aren't pretty to be one. Whoever told him must have been mistaken."

Harry chuckled and Hermione wondered at that until she saw Evan's expression.

Evan was smiling.

It was not a nice smile.

Smiles weren't supposed to look like that, especially without teeth showing.

"I don't find your name funny, Malfoy." The blond took a step back. "I'd've said as much if you had taken a breath instead of ranting. I was only going to say that this," and he gestured to the location, "is hardly the time and place to be making introductions. And-"

Behind them, someone screamed.

 _This interrupting thing is starting to get annoying_. Evan simply blinked, disturbing smile falling from his face. Harry, on the other hand, jumped. Most of the muggleborn or muggle-raised did.

 _Oh_ , Evan thought, _ghosts_. _Cool_.

Indeed, twenty or so transparent and pearly-white beings were walking through the air, conversing amongst themselves.

(Malfoy, seeing the redhead's attention move, quickly walked away. "Father said they were idiots and pushovers," he muttered under his breath. Could his father have been wrong about something? No, surely that wasn't possible.)

Harry grabbed his twin's arm. _"Evan, I thought you were kidding about the ghosts!"_

 _"Why would I joke about that?"_ He blinked. _"Be careful if you see a green one though. That one's-"_

 _"Dangerous?"_

 _"Mostly annoying, but sometimes dangerous, yes."_

One who looked like a fat monk noticed them and smiled. "Hello! You must be new students." The was an awkward pause, in which only a few students managed to nod. "Well, I hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know."

"Move along," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting's about to begin." McGonagall had returned, and her appearance prompted the ghosts to leave. "We're ready for you now. Follow me," she ordered the children once the apparitions were gone.

She led the group through the halls and then through an ornately carved wooden door.

Past that door was the Great Hall and, despite knowing what it would look like, Evan was amazed. There were four long tables of golden plates and goblets and (mostly) smiling older students, and upon the elevated platform at the front of the room was another table, only with the teachers instead of students. Candles floated in the air, illuminating the room. Then, remembering something that he'd been looking forward to, Evan directed his gaze upwards, barely noticing that Harry did the same. "Wow."

"It's not real," Hermione said, but she, too, sounded awed. "It's just bewitched to look like outside- I read about it in _Hogwarts, A History._ "

"Still looks beautiful though," said Harry, who especially like the effect of the floating candles against the dark sky; the flickering lights almost looked like stars.

Neville probably would have said something, but Evan noticed that he was turning green- probably so nervous that he was trying not to puke. "Relax, Neville," he told him. "You'll be just fine."

The other boy just shook his head.

"You will."

They reached the dais at the front of the room where the teachers were seated and McGonagall told them to wait while the headmaster gave a few announcements that Evan thoroughly ignored. Then he saw McGonagall move, and the Hat began to sing. The words washed over the redhead, indistinct, as did the following applause, for he had just realized something disturbing. Rather, two discomforting somethings.

One: that Hat was about to look into his head, and he had no way of knowing that it would keep his secrets.

And two: the three worst adults in the school were in the room with him, and they were probably staring at his brother and himself.

Suddenly, his wonder at being in the Great Hall turned into dread.

"When I call your name, I will put the Hat on your head and you will sit on the stool to be Sorted." She called the names in alphabetical order, but Evan hardly noticed, as Harry hissed and grabbed his scar.

" _Harry?"_

 _"My scar hurts."_

 _"Look at the Hat! Ignore the teachers, remember?"_

Hermione tugged on Harry's sleeve, wondering what was wrong, but he only managed a weak smile before she was called./

"Gryffindor!" shouted the hat after a long moment.

When Neville was called, Evan squeezed his hand (the one not tied to Trevor the toad) and Harry clapped him on the shoulder. Still, he was so nervous that he tripped on his way over. After an even longer time than Hermione, the Hat finally shouted, "Gryffindor!" and he raced off, forgetting that the Hat was still on his head.

After Neville returned the Hat and sat down next to Hermione, Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin. Several more children were sorted, notably Lillian Moon to Ravenclaw and Sally-Anne Perks to Gryffindor, neither of whom Evan could remember from the movies or books, and then, it was Harry's turn and the room was filled with whispers.

" _Potter_ , she said?"

" _The_ Harry Potter?"

The last thing Harry saw before the brim of the Hat covered his eyes was Evan, standing tall as if to shield him from the craning heads of the other students. _"Relax. You can ask!"_

 _"Hmm? My, but you are difficult. Very difficult. And surprising, too. Legilimancy at your age?"_

 _Legilimancy?_

 _"There's talent- oh my goodness, you've talent. Plenty of courage, too, and not a bad mind either. Where to put you?"_ Each word in that last sentence felt heavy- as if each was its' own question.

 _Not Slytherin,_ Harry thought, gripping the edge of the stool so hard that his knuckles turned white. _Not Slytherin._

 _"Not Slytherin, eh? You've a thirst to prove yourself, and Slytherin could help you be great."_

 _No_ , he thought. Then he remembered. _Gryffindor, please._

 _"What's this?"_

 _Evan said I could ask._ And Evan only lied about the small things, he knew. _So, I'd like Gryffindor, please._

 _"Did he now? I'll enjoy Sorting your brother, I think. Well, if you're sure, then-_ Gryffindor!" The Hat shouted the last word to the entire hall, and he managed to take it off with shaky hands. He smiled at Evan, too relieved that his brother had been right to pay attention to the cheering of the other students.

Harry sat down on Hermione's other side, smiling at her and Neville too, before turning to watch his brother.

"Potter, Evan!"

Said boy walked forward calmly as whispers broke out again./

"What?"

" _Potter?_ But I thought they were all _killed_!"

"Harry Potter has a _cousin?_ "

(Malfoy look almost as though he'd been slapped with a fish. _I have to tell Father about this_. Then, _Oh no._ _Father said to get on the Boy-Who-Lived's good side_. And he'd instead insulted the boy's cousin. His father was not going to be pleased by this.)

He smiled at his brother and then the Hat covered his eyes. _Hello._

 _"Oh! Hello! Hardly anyone ever says that to me, but you already figured as much d- What! No! No, no, no. It simply does not work that way, Mr. Potter- or should I say, Miss Whitmore! You were an adult, you should know better!"_

 _So, I do have to be in Gryffindor to borrow the sword, then?_ Evan shivered. _And I think I prefer Potter, if you don't mind_. Despite being Miss Ann Whitmore in a previous life, Evan was Evan. And he was quite alright with that. Having Ann's memories was just something useful- and occasionally depressing or annoying, but mostly useful

"No! Students are not to use weapons in the castle! Why would you even need to- Oh. Oh my. I need to tell someone about this!"

 _Please don't!_ Evan inhaled sharply. _I'll take care of it, but if anyone else knows, then something bad will happen-_

 _"Worse than a basilisk roaming the castle?! What could- Oh. Mister Potter-"_

 _Call me Evan. You're in my head, after all._

"Evan, you- You- I think I've just lost several decades off my life from this conversation."

Evan frowned. _So enchantments do wear out then?_

 _"Alright. I'll lend you Godric's sword; he'd want it to be used for something like this, and your memories say that it's likely to happen anyway. But, Evan, I want you to swear it to me."_

 _I swear that I'll only use the sword to defeat the basilisk, and that I'll return it immediately afterwards, if I am able_. He felt a tingle run down his spine.

Unknown to him, several of the teachers jolted, alarmed at the pulse of magic they felt coming from the boy. Dumbledore and Snape both stood up, and McGonagall had to fight the urge to rip the Hat from Evan's head when the Headmaster sat back down.

(Quirrel and his master were simply curious about the display. Very curious.)

 _"You're expecting to die?"_

 _Eh. I'll feel bad about leaving Harry, but this has to be done. Some things are more important than family, and I cannot afford to be stopped- or for word to get out. He'll manage just fine. He has Hermione and Neville to look after him._

 _"Young man, I was referring to-"_

 _Oh._ Evan blinked. He hadn't considered how he felt about dying again. He also wasn't about to do it with someone listening in. _Well... This is more important._ Indeed, most of his plan relied upon getting rid of the basilisk early.

 _"You are possibly the most Slytherin student I've sorted in decades."_

 _Really?_ He'd had a feeling he would be. All of his Pottermore quizzes were unfailingly serpentine.

 _"So-?"_

 _No,_ he smiled, _I think not, as interesting as that would be. Hufflepuff, please._

 _"Really? You're not very much like them, you know."_

 _I know. But... I do want something just for me- somewhere safe and probably quiet to relax, you know?_

" _I see. I don't agree with you, Evan, especially if they're anything like what you remember, but since your mind is made up. Come speak with me again, but until then have fun in_ Hufflepuff!"

The room was silent, beyond the clapping of the Hufflepuff table, Harry, Neville and Hermione as Evan made his way over to his House.

After the other students were sorted and Dumbledore, who seemed more like the first actor than that guy who played Gandalf, made a few more announcements, the students were free to eat and mingle with each other.

Harry had a good time of it- tons of food, good company (Hermione and Neville and that nice prefect from earlier kept the others from bothering him) and no more pain in his scar.

Evan did not have a good time. Oh, the food was wonderful (especially the rack of lamb!) and he tried at least a bite or two of everything he could reach, but his company was a bit-

"Are you _really_ a _Potter?_ "

"How do are you related to the Boy-Who-Lived?"/p

"Is it _true_ that Harry-"

So on and so forth.

Honestly, he didn't even have much of a chance to answer- they just kept talking over each other! And they were starting to give him a headache. (And he could _feel_ eyes on him from the direction of the staff table.) To top all of that, his back kept throbbing, reminding him that he needed to change his bandages.

He kept a smile on his face through the rest of the meal, took absolutely none of their words to heart and answered very few of their questions.

Thankfully, by the time the prefects escorted the first years to the dormitories, the others were too tired to keep talking at him.

Frankly, he felt as though he'd made a huge mistake.

* * *

Word Count: 3,820

Posted: 3/26/2018


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